Nan with the Plan

OTPF stands for Occupational Therapy Practice Framework, and it does exactly what it says.  It provides a framework for occupational therapy practitioners that guides their practice.  It serves the purpose of establishing a common language among practitioners and guiding the evaluation, intervention, and outcome process.  It also helps define the occupational therapy scope of practice.  The OTPF describes in-depth various skills and factors to consider during OT services such as client factors, performance skills and patterns, and the environment in which clients engage in their everyday lives.  The OTPF emphasizes a top-down approach, which is understanding the roles clients have in their lives and attending to those roles first and foremost instead of focusing on the limitations, illness, or injury at hand.  This way, practitioners know what the client values in their everyday life, and they can use OT services to help them get back to living their best l...

During the Era Presentations, an event that carried over through a couple decades was World War II, starting in the 1940s.  Men were sent off to war, so women were forced to become the breadwinners of families and make a living for themselves.  If women did not get a job in this time period, it definitely sparked a movement of women entering the workforce shortly after.  WWII created an increased need for OT to tend to injured soldiers and veterans trying to participate in civilian life after war.  This opened up many job opportunities to women, and kickstarted the growth of OT.  It was needed then more than ever.  Soldiers needed to regain strength and mobility to be able to fight for our country, and veterans needed to overcome mental illnesses or other physical limitations to participate in life after war.  OT thrived in these years, and the country needed more practitioners to keep up with the demand.  More and more OT programs were developed ...

I knew pretty early on that I wanted to pursue a career in the rehabilitation field.  Luckily, I was able to shadow many different settings during my undergrad years.  I was offered a job as an OT aide my senior year at the University of Alabama at a local outpatient clinic called Tuscaloosa Rehab and Hand Center.  I had hands-on experience with client and non-client related tasks.  I was exposed to the many different aspects of outpatient therapy, and what it would be like to work on an interdisciplinary team.  This setting really stood out to me, and I developed an interest in hand therapy.  I loved how each client was different and challenging in their own ways.  Seeing individuals lose functioning in their hands, and then being able to help them get back to living their best life would be so rewarding.  Achieving the Certified Hand Therapist (CHT) specialty certification is something I would love to do.  Not only would it make me more spe...